Hello! Thank you for the compliments! Some time early next year I plan on doing another one with a single-barrel design that will emulate the "Green Egg" smokers, so stay tuned for that! To answer your question, yes, you can certainly use it as a briquette charcoal grill, but it's a little sloppy. You'll need to get something to use as the "grate" (such as this: https://www.colourbox.com/preview/2373664-metal-grate-isolated-over-white-background.jpg - the same stuff used in the instructable). I'm not a big fan of that stuff because it wears out pretty quickly. The heat causes it to quickly rust, but I've not found anything cheaper/better. Then, you'll want to cut it up/bend it/wire it together into something like this: http://i.imgur.com/eU9...see more »Hello! Thank you for the compliments! Some time early next year I plan on doing another one with a single-barrel design that will emulate the "Green Egg" smokers, so stay tuned for that! To answer your question, yes, you can certainly use it as a briquette charcoal grill, but it's a little sloppy. You'll need to get something to use as the "grate" (such as this: https://www.colourbox.com/preview/2373664-metal-grate-isolated-over-white-background.jpg - the same stuff used in the instructable). I'm not a big fan of that stuff because it wears out pretty quickly. The heat causes it to quickly rust, but I've not found anything cheaper/better. Then, you'll want to cut it up/bend it/wire it together into something like this: http://i.imgur.com/eU9u29v.png (sorry for Powerpoint quality, it's all I had.) Finally, put that on top of a large pan/tray to catch the ashes. If you put your charcoal in that, you can use it as a charcoal grill. You do have to be careful about clean-up prior to smoking though, as you don't want those ashes getting stirred up into your food, or even flavoring it. Make sure to use the catch-pan to catch ALL of the ash!

Thank you for the kind words! To answer your question on brisket, it's for the same reason that chicken wings, Spare Ribs, and baby-back ribs are expensive. They all used to be "throw-away" meats. Ribs were thrown to the dogs, and chicken wings were considered "garbage" meat, so was used to make chicken stock. Who the first was to cook the ribs up is anyone's guess. But once we figured out how to make them "fall-off-the-bone-delicious" their value skyrocketed. Baby-Back ribs, while having a slightly higher meat/bone ratio - but a lower fat content, were considered the "inferior" ribs. That is, until Chili's (the restaurant) single-handedly went on a campaign to make them the "it" thing, and now they're more popular th...see more »Thank you for the kind words! To answer your question on brisket, it's for the same reason that chicken wings, Spare Ribs, and baby-back ribs are expensive. They all used to be "throw-away" meats. Ribs were thrown to the dogs, and chicken wings were considered "garbage" meat, so was used to make chicken stock. Who the first was to cook the ribs up is anyone's guess. But once we figured out how to make them "fall-off-the-bone-delicious" their value skyrocketed. Baby-Back ribs, while having a slightly higher meat/bone ratio - but a lower fat content, were considered the "inferior" ribs. That is, until Chili's (the restaurant) single-handedly went on a campaign to make them the "it" thing, and now they're more popular than spare ribs. Similarly, a woman that worked in a bar had her son and a bunch of his friends come in looking for some snack food. All she had left in the kitchen were a bunch of chicken wings stacked up to make stock with, so she cut them down into the "drumettes and flats" that we recognize as chicken wings, fried them, and served them to the kids with some hot sauce and butter. The buffalo wing was born, and good luck finding chicken wings on the cheap now. Brisket has a similar story. Basically, the whole front of the beef (shoulders/brisket) would just be separated from the carcass and smoked. When people would ask for a piece of inexpensive "smoked beef" they would either ask for a "lean" piece (shoulder) or a "fat" piece (brisket). Over time, we came to respect the brisket for what it was - a well marbled piece of meat that when prepared correctly, can be among the best of BBQ. As a result, its price, too, skyrocketed.

Great questions!> how has it held up over time and through conditions?So far, so good. Definitely some rust on it (I'll cover that later) but I use it quite regularly even still. > What modifications, if any have you made since your build?None so far. Some I would've like to have made at the time of building, though.> I noticed in several comments you stated youdid not want a side firebox door or a top mounted chimney. May I ask why? Was there a functional readonbor was this more about aesthetics? I wanted ALL of the heat to come from the firebox, and to conserve as much of that heat as possible. I knew with a large firebox (eg: large surface area) I would already be losing a lot of heat from the firebox barrel. So that's why I went with the stacked design, to attempt to...see more »Great questions!> how has it held up over time and through conditions?So far, so good. Definitely some rust on it (I'll cover that later) but I use it quite regularly even still. > What modifications, if any have you made since your build?None so far. Some I would've like to have made at the time of building, though.> I noticed in several comments you stated youdid not want a side firebox door or a top mounted chimney. May I ask why? Was there a functional readonbor was this more about aesthetics? I wanted ALL of the heat to come from the firebox, and to conserve as much of that heat as possible. I knew with a large firebox (eg: large surface area) I would already be losing a lot of heat from the firebox barrel. So that's why I went with the stacked design, to attempt to capture more of the heat (as it rose) in the upper barrel. The side-mounted chimney was to keep the flow of smoke moving over the food instead of just creating a vortex that pulled the smoke and the heat straight up and out the chimney without hitting the food. In hindsight, there are a few things I would've done differently: 1.) I would've absolutely spent more time stripping down the paint. My biggest irk is that the new paint bubbled off due to the barrel's original paint not being able to take the heat. I knew this would happen, but did NOT realize just how difficult re-sanding and re-painting would be once the thing was assembled. I would've spent much more time stripping the barrels and repainting them before assembly. 2.) The fire-barrel's door needs to be reconsidered. It opens top-down meaning it won't hold itself shut through gravity, and any sort of "lock" mechanism just gets hot, and loose over time. Making it open bottom-up would be a serious burn risk. If I were to do it over, I think I would've used the "scrap" barrel to make a hinged door on the SIDE (top of barrel) of the fire-barrel that could swing open normally, and have a simple latch to keep it closed. 3.) The I really should've spent more time on the flue, too. The square flue made with old aluminum flashing was a bad call. Nearly impossible to get a good seal with, and I lose a ton of heat/smoke through that. It probably should've been bigger as well. 4.) The ribs to hold the bricks up (step 14, picture 1) didn't last nearly as long as I thought they would, and I've had to stick a brick under there instead (to keep the smoke/heat channel open). I would've just gone with that the first time around if I were to do it again. Otherwise, it's still holding up well, and as I say, we use it regularly! I've even made a few bucks with it, bartering with a smoked pork picnic for some plumbing work. :D When it's up and going, the whole neighborhood knows it.